Honeywell volunteers teamed up with other community volunteers to help to rebuild the Lyons Town Hall Plaza on Nov. 8.

By Susie Bell

Honeywell

On Nov. 8, approximately 30 Honeywell employees joined other community volunteers from the town of Lyons to provide improvements and renovations at the Lyons Town Hall Plaza, culminating a yearlong effort to help the town recover from a flood in September of 2013 that devastated the community of about 2,000.

Volunteers created a public space outside the Lyons Town Hall that can accommodate outdoor meetings as well as provide a positive outdoor experience for town visitors and staff. They worked to create and build several features of the plaza, including a defined walkway; planted a boulder garden; and installed a flagstone "river walk," picnic tables and seating, as well as retaining walls and lighting for security.

The Town Hall project was one of many projects needed in the town after the St. Vrain Creek flooded its banks in 2013 and poured water into neighborhoods across the town, washing out roads and flooding homes and buildings. The flooding disabled all water, sewer, gas and electrical service throughout Lyons and damaged the wastewater treatment plant's systems, leaving the wastewater utility inoperable. Honeywell has worked with the community since that time to restore its wastewater treatment plant and keep it on-line until an overall upgrade is completed in 2015.

"We're grateful for the assistance and support we're receiving today from this great group of volunteers and partners," said John O'Brien, mayor of Lyons. "The past year has been a difficult and trying one for our town and our residents, and only through hard work and the coming together of our community have we been able to rebuild as much as we have. The work performed here today will go a long way in helping our town get back to normal."

Besides Honeywell, the town hall project included volunteers from Colorado Rotary Club Districts 5440 and 5450, the University of Colorado at Denver College of Architecture and Planning, J.R. Filanc Construction, the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, Lyons Chamber of Commerce and the Town of Lyons.

"Honeywell is proud to have worked with Lyons and assisted in its recovery from this natural disaster," said Mike Taylor, vice president, Honeywell. "As Honeywell employees, we are happy to be a part of this community and to have had the opportunity to lend our skills during the crisis and now a year later to continue to help the town rebuild and reach this stage in its recovery."

At the time of the flood, Honeywell was in the process of starting construction at the Lyons wastewater treatment plant to improve operations by updating aging equipment and infrastructure. Honeywell employees helped the town assess damages to its wastewater treatment facility and other town infrastructure.

Honeywell immediately agreed to serve as Lyons' volunteer wastewater recovery team, designing and managing emergency repairs to the wastewater treatment plant without additional cost to the town. As a result, the Town of Lyons' wastewater services were back online to 80 percent of the town residents and businesses within 45 days after the recovery process started.

Prior to, and immediately following the flood, the company also leveraged a combination of guaranteed energy and operational savings, state grants and a low interest rate loan to fund major upgrades and implement energy improvements to the plant, while avoiding significant increases to water utility rates.

The work at Lyons Town Hall Plaza is a project organized by Honeywell Hometown Solutions, the company's corporate citizenship initiative that focuses on five areas: family safety and security; housing and shelter; science and math education; humanitarian relief; and habitat and conservation.

Since 2003, more than 15,500 Honeywell volunteers and national corporate partner Rebuilding Together have repaired nearly 500 homes and non-profit centers in Honeywell communities in the United States, Canada and Mexico, rehabilitating and revitalizing low-income housing, schools and other community assets.

For more information on Honeywell, visit honeywellnow.com and for more information on Honeywell Hometown Solutions, go to citizenship.honeywell.com.

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